


Anywhere Is Fine

by neverknowdear



Category: Tokyo Demons Series - Lianne Sentar
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-21
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-23 17:56:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8337280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neverknowdear/pseuds/neverknowdear
Summary: After CORE is defeated and the Church members go their separate ways, Ayase, Sachi, and Kado get together to see a movie. Is it a hangout? A date? Or are they just delaying their inevitable estrangement? For the Tokyo Demons Fanstory Contest.





	

Ayase was running late.

She had spent the night rolling back and forth in bed and woke up late, which wouldn't have been a problem if she hadn't spent another hour pacing in her room after showering and getting dressed. A driver from Mitsuko's family estate had dropped her off several blocks from the movie theater, at Ayase's request. She needed the extra ten minutes to walk off her tension before meeting Sachi and Kado.

Why was she so nervous? It was just a movie. And they were all friends. She exhaled through her nose.

Friends? "Friends" was too paltry a word to describe their relationship. They had dealt with life and death together. Had learned more about themselves together than they ever had apart. They had been _intimate_. She blushed, memories of Sachi's lips on her neck in the hospital replaying in her mind. Sachi and Kado had done things together, too. She wondered about them often, their feelings for each other, and what her place was in their lives.

She pressed her palms against her eyes, stars blinking in the darkness behind her eyelids. No. Now wasn't the time to think about this. Not when she was meeting them both for a date. She needed to be calm and collected, at the very least. She could work on exuding happiness, too. She didn't want her nerves to spread to Kado or Sachi.

Anyway, she was happy. Things were good. They were _safe_. And they were watching a movie. You know, doing something generic, the way other people their age did. The way... friends did. That's what they were. They were friends.

She revised "date" in her mind to "hangout".

"Ayase!" she heard a familiar voice shout out. It was Sachi, some twenty feet ahead, standing next to a fountain and waving her over. By his side was Kado, slouching against his crutch in a sweater at least one size too large for his slender frame. She waved and half-jogged over to where they stood.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to run late." _I should've left earlier, instead of pacing around like an idiot._

"It's okay, Ayase," Sachi said cheerfully. "We just wound up getting here a little early." Sachi nodded his head at Kado. "He was here first, actually."

Kado smoothed a piece of hair back behind his ear, only to have it slip forward again immediately after. "I just," he muttered, "wanted to get out of the house."

 _That's fair_ , thought Ayase. 

Kado offered a small smile. "I'm glad you're here," he said to Ayase. 

She blushed. "Thanks, Kado."

"I'm glad both of you are here," he murmurmed, eyes looking up to meet Sachi's. The love that passed from Kado's eyes to Sachi's, and the nervous grin Sachi gave in response, filled Ayase's already tremulous heart with fresh excitement. _This is nice_ , she thought. _See? Nothing to be afraid of._

"Me too," Ayase agreed. "Should we... head over, then?"

"Yeah, let's go," Sachi said happily, taking Ayase's hand without a moment's hesitation. She stiffened, and Sachi loosened his grip. "Oh," he croaked, "I'm sorry— j-just a habit. We don't need to—"

"It's okay, Ayase," Kado stated. _Me?_ She blinked and turned to him. Kado was looking at her thoughtfully, serious, calm, and as relaxed as he ever got while conscious. He didn't look the least bit hurt, offended, or abandoned, the way she thought he might. He just looked... content. She relaxed her shoulders, not realizing that she had been so tense. Her mind had been racing, at least from her perspective. How had he managed to decipher the jumbled mess in her head?

He grinned. "Body language." He glanced up at Sachi, then looked back to Ayase. "Hold hands. You make each other happy." He released a breath and closed his eyes. "I can hear it. I can see it." He reopened his eyes and focused them on Sachi and Ayase again. "It's... nice."

He looked... happy. Giddy, almost. They both did, but the butterflies in Ayase's stomach hardly quieted at the acknowledgement. Her nervousness was palpable and distracting. Was it possible for her to feel happiness without some trepidation? Was it too soon to wish for that?

 _Stop_ , she muttered to herself. _We're happy. Just accept that._

She reached out for Sachi's hand, interlocking her fingers with his. "I'm sorry," she said with a breathless laugh. "I'm just-" She scrambled for an appropriate excuse. Tired? Nervous? Which excuse didn't sound terrible? Which didn't sound like an outright lie?

"It's okay, Ayase," Sachi assured her. They followed two steps behind Kado, who was relying less heavily on his crutch now. "You don't have to hold my hand, if it's too weird."

"I _do_ want to," she insisted. "I'm just... a little mixed up."

"I can tell," Sachi said with a quiet laugh. "But so am I. We've never done anything this normal, really, have we?"

She thought back. They'd shared sandwiches together in the Church kitchen, gotten caught making out by their friends, but other than that... the majority of their time together had involved drug war violence, hospital stays, gun fights, captivity, and insects.

She released a sharp laugh. "We're not normal at all." Sachi gripped her hand more tightly, and she let herself find comfort in that. 

They bought their tickets for the movie after some deliberation. Sachi had wanted to see the historical romance, Kado the mystery, and Ayase the futuristic drama; they eventually conceded victory to a foreign action-comedy film. They purchased a small bag of popcorn to split, a bottle of water, and a package of gummy fruit candy that Kado did not seem particularly eager to share. Shortly after getting seated, the movie began.

A loud explosion resounded throughout the theater. Gunfire echoed from wall to wall, sirens wailing and then muffled by the repetitive _thuk-thuk-thuk_ of a helicopter's rotary wings. A man was yelling loudly over the screams of another in pain, and her shoulder was being shaken roughly by someone to her left—

"—se! Ayase! Are you okay?" It was Sachi. She looked from him, to the movie screen in front of her, down to her hand, where she had an uncompromising death grip on Sachi. She released his hand quickly.

"I'm sorry," she said, too loud now that the movie scene had a quieter volume. "I- I wasn't thinking."

"You were thinking," he whispered, "But it's just a movie. We can leave, if you want to."

"No," she insisted, folding her hands in her lap. "It's fine. I'm fine. Let's enjoy this."

Sachi lifted a hand to her shoulder before tentatively resting it there. "Is that what you want?"

She covered his hand with her own. "Yes," she insisted, hoping that her heightened anxiety wouldn't make Sachi misunderstand. She could explain more, but they were in a theater, after all, and she didn't want to bother the other patrons with her talking.

"Okay," Sachi said. "Can I... still hold your hand?"

Ayase let out a quiet laugh. "If you still want to."

"Of course. Just don't squeeze me to death."

A person seated in front of them shot back a glare, so they averted their eyes to the screen and kept quiet.

As the previews had promised, the movie was both action-packed and funny. She didn't know what made panicked squawking chickens and ridiculous fight moves so universally appealing, but she couldn't say their magic wasn't working on her, too.

But even with its humor, Ayase couldn't keep her mind from its anxious spiraling. _This won't work,_ an inner voice cooed. _You're all kidding yourselves. You don't have anything in common besides CORE. As soon as you blink, it'll be over, and you'll be all alone again._

That couldn't be right, she knew — she hoped she knew — but she couldn't stop her mind from rambling. _I'm sorry, Kado,_ she mentally pleaded. _Damn it!_ Why couldn't she just calm down? She was finally happy. _They_ were finally happy. They were safe and alive and whole. Couldn't she just enjoy it? Couldn't she calm the anxiety swirling in the pit of her gut, just this once?

She was snapped out of her repetitive thoughts by cold fingertips sliding against her palm. Kado's fingers interlaced with her own, gripping her right hand gently but firmly. He leaned in close to her ear so he could be heard over the theater's speakers. "It's okay, Watanabe-san," he murmured. His breath tickled her ear, sending chills across her shoulders and back. "Ayase," he corrected, leaning closer. "Ayase."

Her whole body flushed. Thankfully the dark theater would hide the redness of her cheeks, but she was certain her body was hot enough for Kado to feel it. But he didn't pull away, and neither did she. Even with Touya in custody and CORE all but dissolved, she was hesitant to let Kado out of her sight. And in this dark room, even with him seated beside her, she refused to let him go.

He leaned in again, too close, and his lip grazed her ear. "I'm not going anywhere."

Her stomach flipped pleasantly, heart thudding loud in her chest. Now was really not the time for her to be reacting to Kado's words, not when she was holding his hand, and definitely not while Sachi was holding her other hand.

She wondered if Sachi could feel Kado through her, or if she acted as an insulator. Her feelings were overwhelming enough without adding another person's baggage, so she hoped that was the case. _I'm sorry, Sachi,_ she thought to herself, hoping at least one of them would overhear her. She exhaled and leaned back, relaxing into the plush theater chair. She recalled what she said to Sachi before the movie — _We're not normal at all._ The two people who kept her steady - one who could feel her thoughts, and another who could hear them — she loved them both dearly.

 _Thank you, Kado,_ she thought, closing her eyes. _Thank you for staying. For being here. Thank you both._

\---

Bright lights woke her. Against Ayase's cheek, fabric shifted, and she sat up quickly to find that she had fallen asleep on Sachi's shoulder. She slid her hands over her face and through her hair, trying to wake herself up. "I," she blurted, "I fell asleep."

"You did," Sachi laughed, pushing loose hairs out of her face. "But you seemed really comfortable, so we didn't wake you."

"You said you hadn't slept," Kado added quietly.

"Did I...?" she murmured. She didn't remember bringing it up, but whether she actually did or not hardly mattered. She doubted there was much she could keep from Kado now. Thankfully, she didn't mind. She didn't have any secrets to keep from him.

"Well," Sachi began, "now that the movie's over-"

Oh. Right. They had gotten together to see this movie — to act like normal teens, just this once — and she had slept through the whole experience. Now that the movie was over, they'd be parting ways again. With new schools, schedules, and living arrangements to get accustomed to, who knew when they'd find the time to meet up again?

She held her breath, waiting for the goodbyes to begin.

"—Do you want to get something to eat?" Sachi sighed with a soft groan. "That bag of popcorn did nothing for me."

"Some ice cream might be nice," Kado offered.

"You can't just live off sweets, Kado."

"Look me in the eyes and tell me that," Kado retorted, a tiny mischievous smile on his lips.

Ayase let out a breathy laugh. "Yes," she sighed. Clutching each of their hands in her own, she smiled. "Anywhere is fine."


End file.
